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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Fusion Science and Technology
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Optimizing nuclear plant outages: Data analytics tools and methods for enhancing resilience and efficiency
Nuclear power plant refueling outages are among the most complex phases in a plant’s operational cycle.1 During these outages, tens of thousands of activities, including maintenance and surveillance, are conducted simultaneously within a short timeframe. Typically lasting three to four weeks, these operations involve large crews of contractors with diverse skill sets performing tasks ranging from testing and surveillance to maintenance. Outages may extend longer if major backfitting or modernization projects are planned. Consequently, plant outages are expensive, incurring significant operational costs, such as contractor labor and equipment, as well as the loss of generation while the plant is off line. This can easily cost a plant operator more than $1 million a day. Therefore, there is a constant need to mitigate the economic impact on plants by reducing the frequency, duration, and risks associated with these outages.2,3
Sümer Şahin, Tawfik A. Al-Kusayer, Muhammad Abdul Raoof
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 1 | July 1986 | Pages 84-99
Technical Paper | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24749
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The AYMAN research project has been initiated to formulate the main structure of a prototypical experimental fusion and fusion-fission (hybrid) reactor blanket in cylindrical geometry. This geometry is consistent with most of the current fusion and hybrid reactor design concepts in respect to neutronic considerations. In this project, the fusion chamber is simulated by a cavity with a diameter of ∼1.6 m inside a cylindrical blanket. Fusion neutrons of 14 MeV are produced by a movable target along the axis of the cylinder. The movable neutron source allows simulation of a line source for integral experiments, which is a result of the linear nature of the Boltzmann transport equation. The calculations have shown that a blanket with a 13-cm-thick natural UO2 fuel zone and a 17-cm-thick Li2O zone has a self-sustaining tritium breeding for the fusion driver. By an appropriate dispersion of the Li2O zone inside the graphite reflector, it became possible to decrease the neutron leakage out of the reflector by a factor of 2 to 3 in favor of tritium breeding performance.
